John B

I'm finding Call Cobbs' harpsichord a little bit distracting but, on the whole, Love Cryis just a beautiful album! I don't know why, but Ayler is just what I've needed to hear for the past day.

still no sign of "jandek for Lovers", but the package from my friend arrived today. I'll be able to start commenting on some of the earlier Jandek albums in the next few days. I'll start listening later on tonight, after Albert Ayler's Love Cry finishes, and post some thoughts once I have a chance to digest each album. I'm going to give each album a "clean slate" and try not to be prejudiced by any comments / reviews I have read.

Very much so, in both composed and improvised pieces. I'll see if I can make a list of a few recommendations tonight.

I've known for quite some time that I really need to hear some more AEC. I currently only own the Nessa box, A Jackson in Your House and a copy of Go Home. The next three I have on my list to listen to are People In Sorrow/Les Stances A Sophie, Fanfare For The Warriors and Reese And The Smooth Ones. I was hoping people could let me know if there are other albums of theirs that I should move higher up on my list and hear before any of those three and, in general, list which AEC albums they consider to be either "essential" or just plain amazing.

I've been hesitant to order any of these. $13 plus shipping for a cdr seems a bit steep to me. You have me curious enough to try this out at some point.

You should grab Panoptic Modes, too. That is up there with Blood Sutra in terms of quality.

You are most liekly correct. Part of my problem is the amount of his recordings that I have never heard. I'll need to add the Hat and Ayler discs to my next order, as well as buying real copies of the albums I have old burns of.

Hve been postponing buying this one in hope to identify the best-sounding CD copy. Which one do you have (I asumethere are at least 5 of them around), and how does it sound? I have no idea. I just have an old copy of whichever version the local library owned. Now listening to Bells / Prophecy It would be nice if someone such as Mosaic could release a set of all of the "official" Ayler discs, remastered, with any bonus tracks that migt be lying around. It would be wonderful to have these albums in the best possible sound.

I had forgotten how beautiful Spirits Rejoice is. What a fantastic album! This is really whetting my appetite for the box set.

I was very impressed when I saw Lisle Ellis live a few months back with Marco Eneidi. I believe he will be bringing his own group here in November, I've never heard of either plimley or this album before. This one sounds interesting, and will be added to "the list."

What's that? a record called Go Home, that they recorded in Paris a few months prior to Les Stances A Sophie. It was released on vinyl by a company called Galloway in, apparently, very limited numbers. An "unofficial" cd version also exists, but appears to also be extremely rare. A kind soul supplies me with a dub of the cd.

I'd completely forgotten about this one. I'll be listening to this and Spiritual Unity tonight, along with an Art Ensemble of Chicago rarity that just made its way to me.

starring the actor who played Tim on The Office, as I read on IMDB. fantastic casting, imo.

Now onto disc #2 1) I really like this track! Nice vibe, nice playing, possibly my favorite track so far, from either disc. Wow…this just keeps on getting better and better. This has to be Mingus. I need to get a copy of this disc. How is the rest of this show? 2) St. Thomas, this must be Sonny live in the early ‘60’s? I had no clue who anyone else was on this track until I heard the drum solo. That has to be Han Bennink. Again, this is a fantastic track! I really would like to hear the rest of the show. 3) I have a feeling I should have known who all of these players are, but this just isn’t clicking for me right now. I’m not too crazy about what I’m hearing from the bass and guitar. No clue who this is. 4) No clue who this is, but I’m really enjoying this track. I’m looking forward to finding out who this is. 5) sounds like Herbie Hancock to me…Tony Williams on drums? I’ll guess Ron Carter on bass. Nice track! Great sound and wonderful energy. 6) Woody Shaw. Fantastic, fiery track! I’m really enjoying this one. No clue who the rest of the players are, or when this was recorded, but the sound quality is fantastic! Tom, this is one of my favorite BFT discs! I need to track down most of these discs once you reveal who these players are. Many thanks for putting together two fantastic discs!

Ok, I've finally had some time to sit down with this disc and compile my thoughts. This might end up being the BFT where I recognize the most tunes while recognizing the least # of players. That being said, I really enjoyed listening to your selections! Disc one has a really nie flow to it. Very well programmed. 1) My Favorite Things, but I have no clue who this pianist is. This track is soothing, yet somewhat dissonant. I am intrigued enough to want to hear the album this was taken from. 2) Dixieland revival-ish. I have no clue who this is, but I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a fun track, nonetheless. 3) Can't Buy Me Love, and I'm starting to gather what the theme is here. I'd guess this is Stan Turrentine, but I don't really know. It sounds like that general era of Blue Note and the sax player’s tone reminds me of Stan the man, so that will be my guess. Nice tune. 4) sounds like an ECM date, but I have no clue who these players are. I really like this track. 5) again, no clue who this is, which isn't surprising, as I know next to nothing about albums led by trombonists. Starts out nice enough, but didn’t really grab me at first. This song definitely grew on me with repeat listens. 6) Not my cup of tea at all. 7) Killing me softly, I’ll guess Kenny Garrett, but I’m not sure about that. This isn’t a song that has ever done all that much for me and this track isn’t changing that at all. 8) No clue who this is. I really enjoy the pensive, brooding vibe of this track. I’m looking forward to reading who this is. 9) No clue who this is, again. Nothing here is really grabbing me. A lot of “flash,” but no substance to this sax, imo. 10) Nice track, no clue who this is. It sounds like a throwback to the late ‘40s, in a way, but recorded sometime more recently. I really enjoyed this one. 11) No clue, I’m not very familiar with music from this era. Not really my cup of tea, but some nice swinging music. 12) Lee Konitz? I really enjoyed this track. The drum seems to be overmiked, but some great energy here. Late 1970’s recording? 13) Another very nice track and a nice way to finish of the disc. I have no clue who this is.

No, I thought about doing that but changed my mind and will be ordering 20 discs (sometime next month) from throughout his career, based on recommendations I've read online and some of the soundsamples I heard on the Aquarius site. I figure I can always go back and order the missing ones or, based on some of the comments the two of you are making, wait for a few more releases past 40 and avoid some of the real clinkers. In the meantime, a friend of mine is lending me 9 discs to listen to, so I will start posting my thoughts on those once I have a chance to sit down and digest them. Still no sign of my "Jandek for Lovers" compilation.

This made me wonder...what would everyone consider to be the five essential Ayler discs to hear before buying Holy Ghost? I don't think I have ever heard five of his albums that I would consider "essential.". I know that any list would start with Spiritual Unity, but where to go from there? Off the top of my head: 1. Spiritual Unity 2. Live in Greenwhich Village 3. Bells 4. Love Cry 5. Witches and Devils Any other choices?

man, I really wish I could join in on the album reviews / discussion. Once I am able to I'll have to come back and post my thoughts relative to what both of you are saying.

Honestly, given who is sending it to me, I will probably have placed and received my order from Corwood before the mix shows up.

I have never heard any Captain Beefheart other than Trout Mask Replica, which I borrowed from the library once, several years ago. I need to give these albums a listen on of these days...

perhaps we should start a seperate "aggresive music to clean the house to" discussion. Before I was married I used to play things like Mogwai Fear Satan (a 16+ minute track) or Metallica's Master of Puppets while cleaning. Tool's Lateralus was another good one for that, too. I can't imagine having to pay a tax on a radio. I never listen to the ones I have. If you haven't heard Isis' Oceanic or Mastodon's first full album, I'm forgetting the name right now, you should do so asap.

reply sent and the discs are on hold for you.

I just saw this posted on another board and it made me laugh: "Michelangelo Matos had a great line about this (The Clash demos) in this week's Time Out New York (Babbo is one of the most delicious restaurants in NYC, FYI, fancy Italian): "comparing the demos with the finished album is like choosing between dinner at Babbo and the Twinkie you accidentally sat on.""

If I ever receive this compilation I have been promised I'm going to call it Jandek - For Lovers.

I finally heard some of the sound samples on Aquarius. (I don't have RealPLayer, so I can only listen to the mpeg streams.) my reaction - ! I'm listening to the samples off of The Place right now....it will take some time for this to sink in. Man, this is a lot darker than the earlier samples.